


You Took My Wings, But Watch Me Fly

by Typhemoonrise



Series: Aberration of Life as We Know it [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Genetic Engineering, Genetically Alterted, I made up everything here, I pretty much dumped everything here., Kind of A/B/O fic, M/M, Mates, None of them knew each other before this, Oikawa figured out he's actually a genius, Oikawa is in heaven, Oikawa-centered, Telepathic Bonds, They are on an alien planet, Watari is Yahaba's pet, Wingfic, abducted, because I find he's the easiest to write, except only Alphas and Omegas, they all exercised regularly and were taken because they were healthy and young, they all played volleyball at some point, when it comes to flying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-10-23 07:43:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10715172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Typhemoonrise/pseuds/Typhemoonrise
Summary: “So a drug dealer then?” Oikawa raised an eyebrow, trying to pick off a particularly stubborn piece,” Anymore shady business dealings I need to know about before I let you dirty my precious Makki?” Kyoutani snorted.“I’ll have you know, I have a clean record, thank you very much!” Matsukawa huffed.“Clean record doesn’t mean nothing, only means you weren’t stupid enough to get caught,” Oikawa shoots him a look.





	1. First Contact

Heavy. But light? Weightless. That’s what he was feeling. Warm, and maybe cold too. Like water. But thicker. Like he was trying to move through jelly. What did he remember? He had been lying on his bathroom floor, right? He wanted to frown, but he couldn’t seem to summon the energy to. He remembered the knife. He remembered bringing it to his wrist. Then nothing. Darkness. Well, maybe not darkness. Maybe light. Lot’s of light. Almost blinding, but comforting too, somehow. He tried to remember what came after that, but...Nothing. It was blank. Where was he? 

 

Oikawa’s eyes snapped open. He scanned his surroundings. He seemed to be in a tank made of something similar to glass, except when he pressed it with his foot it expanded outwards, like elastic, still keeping it’s translucent color. Beyond the odd elastic membrane confines, there seemed to be another person in a tank in front of him. He was floating, and nude. Usually this would make the brunette embarrassed, but he was feeling too groggy to summon the emotion. The man seemed to be floating in a watery translucent-like substance, except thicker. He had caramel-brown skin, a thick build, and raven black hair, spiked. He seemed not to be full Japanese, but at least part way, asian features most prominent in his face, especially his eyes. The man was hooked to several tubes, and he had a mask over his face. The same one Oikawa was wearing. Normally, he would have been startled by this realization, but he was feeling to heavy to summon up any panic.  _ Drugs _ , the back of mind whispered, but he doggedly ignored it. 

 

Oikawa struggled his attention back to the male in the tank in front of him. The tank had a small control panel on the side, and was connected to cables, some of which went up and disappeared into a black metal-like roof, the others crossed the black metal flooring towards his own tank and connected with some cables there. He wondered why they were connected. Suddenly, a large light blocked his view of the man. He felt a twinge of irritation in his chest. The light was blinding, almost hurting him. The light messed with the control panel that was no doubt on his tank as well, and Oikawa began to hear a soft song-like voice through the substance. It was garbled, but he could still make it out. Suddenly, he began to feel not quite heavy or weightless...something else. Sleepy maybe? He fought to keep his eyes open, and another light came into view. The soft, song-like voices continued, but the light’s voice was more like a wind chime, whereas the first was closer to high piano keys. They fiddled with the control panel, and the grogginess increased. Not able to fight a moment longer, Oikawa allowed his eyelids fall shut. He sighed, and he could feel air bubbles escape through his nose. Then, Nothing. 

  
  


♡                             ~                             ♡

  
  


When Oikawa’s eyes open again, he’s lying on a soft grassy area. He squints at the too bright light. He groans. He feels  _ so _ tired. He just wants to sleep more. 

 

“Guys, he’s awake! Someone go get Iwaizumi!” Oikawa hears someone say. Male, by the deepness in the voice. 

 

“Hey, come on, we’ve been waiting forever for you to wake up, so don’t fall back asleep, moron,” Another guy says. Rude, who was this person to tell Oikawa anything. He just wanted to sleep. He grumbled and shoved their prodding hands away. 

 

“Maybe you should leave him alone. I don’t want to make Iwaizumi mad,” yet a third voice says. 

 

“Yes, but I’m not you am I?” the first voice teases.

 

“We have no qualms with making him mad,” cackles the second.

 

“Try to get a name, at least,” a fourth voice chimes in. There was a hum of agreement.

 

“Hey ugly, wake up,” the second prods at his back. 

 

“ _ Excuse you _ !” Oikawa screeches, sitting up and grabbing the guy’s shirt. Who the fuck was he? To call him? UGLY? How dare he! He growls. The man was a wavy ravenette with brown eyes, widened in surprise. He was also slightly taller than Oikawa, which only served to piss him off further. 

 

“Uhm, sorry?” the male offers. Oikawa is about to retort, when he’s hit with a wave of nausea. He scrambles away from the guy, and shakily get all fours, trying to fight the bile that creeping up his throat. He reaches up to adjust his glasses, when he realizes they aren’t there. And he doesn’t have contacts in. Yet everything is in perfect clarity. And why the hell is this moss silver? As soon as he thinks this, he hears something. It’s a strange sensation, like a tug on the base of his skull, and it takes him a moment to realize he’s not hearing the sound that’s projected in his mind out loud. 

 

_ He’s awake He’s awake He’s awake He’s awake-Holy Shit _ . Oikawa looks up into bright green eyes that make him shiver to his core. He looks the man over, and realizes he was the man in the tank from in front of him. With a few major differences. He has large black wings sprouting out of his back with a green sheen to them, and smells of the ocean and some sort of island flower.

 

_ From the tank? _ Oikawa starts. He eyes widen. This guy could hear his thoughts. The notion made panic spread through his chest. Where was he? Why was this happening? Oh god make it stop, make it stop, make it stop-

 

“Hey, it’s okay, don’t panic, everything’s gonna be alright,” the man says. Alright? What was alright right now? He felt his muscles stiffen, and he felt that crushing weight on his chest, and he couldn’t breathe why couldn’t he breathe? 

 

_ It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay. _ He felt tears run down his face. How can you be so sure of that? 

 

_ Because I’m here. And I promise I’ll protect you okay?  _ Oikawa looked up again, and the man was kneeled in front of him, green eyes bore into his brown. Promise?

 

_ Naturalmente, ho promessa.  _ Oikawa blinked. What. The man bust out laughing. How is this at all funny? He growled. 

 

“None of this is helping!” Oikawa snapped. 

 

“Are you sure about that?” he retorted. Oikawa blinked. Now that he thought about it…

 

“Whatever,” he said hotly. And tore his eyes away from the other man’s face to look at the conglomerate of people. There were eight in all standing around him rather expectantly, sporting large wings. He moves on to the next thing before his mind has time to freak out over the appendages. He realized how pathetic he must look and he wiped the tears from his face. He blinked at the long cloth covering his body. It was blue, a different sort from the grass he was laying on, which was more on the gray side. It was a cool turquoise, his favorite color. The dress gathered at his right shoulder and draped downwards, stopping right above his chest, leaving one shoulder bare. The rest of it draped neatly along the folds of his body, fabric pinching at the waist, with a white sash embroidered with teal feathers. He wore no shoes.

 

“The hell is this?” Oikawa muttered.

 

“Your guess is as good as ours,” a silvery brunette shrugged, brown eyes squinting away from the stray bit of light that filtered through the branches, silvery brown wings with dashes of the occasional white ruffling slightly. He wore something remarkably similar, except purple, with black ocean wave embroidery on the sash. A good color for him. He looked around, and it was a large room created from twisted branches. Only the occasional light filtered through the branches, besides the light coming from the opening. The branches were silver, and the leaves were the same color as the grass in varying shades. It was oddly beautiful.

 

“Well...while you...get used to yourself, I’m gonna go do a scouting mission. Yeah. Kyoutani, and Kindaichi, you come, and Matsukawa as well I suppose,” the green eyed man said. He pointed to a mean dog-like man who had blonde hair with a black stripe going horizontally through it, amber eyes, large black wings lined with blonde, and wearing a gold pair of genie pants; a skittish looking man with black hair and brown eyes, dark brown wings, and wearing red genie pants; and the guy who had called Oikawa ugly (who was wearing a navy blue pair) respectively. They left before Oikawa could ask what he meant by ‘get used to yourself’, his thoughts growing fainter and fainter as he walked away. 

 

“Well, I’m Hanamaki Takahiro, by the way,” the strawberry-blonde on his left said. He was wearing a black dress with a silver leaf embroidered sash, and his wings were the same coloring as his hair, with the occasional white feather,” This is Yahaba Shigeru and Kunimi Akira.” He pointed to the silvery brunette first then to a quiet ravenette with slate gray eyes and black wings with dashes of gray. He wore a gray dress with a gold flower embroidered sash. 

 

“Oikawa Tooru. But no offense, what the hell is going on?” Oikawa said.

 

“I don’t know,” Hanamaki shrugged,” We just woke up here, and we were like this. Some were asleep longer than others.” 

 

“We?” Oikawa whispered, widening his eyes. 

 

“Look at your back,” Kunimi said. Oikawa gulped and obeyed. There, sat two milk chocolate colored wings, dappled with white, like someone had taken a paint brush and flung a spray of white paint on them. Oikawa yelped, and they jumped a little, feathers standing on end. 

 

“I tried to keep them nice, you have really pretty ones,” Yahaba offered. 

 

“ _ I have wings! _ ” Oikawa screeched,”  _ And they’re moving, why are they moving? _ ”    
  
“Because you’re moving them stupid,” Kunimi snickered. 

 

“Don’t be mean to me!” Oikawa said,” Let me freak out! I’m allowed to freak out!” 

 

“If it helps, we freaked out too. I’d say you’re taking it rather well compared to some of us, actually,” Hanamaki said. 

 

“What normal person  _ wouldn’t _ freak out about growing wings from their back?” Oikawa questioned. 

 

“Iwaizumi didn’t freak out,” Kunimi said,” He sort of just took it all into stride.” Yahaba and Hanamaki nodded in agreement. Iwaizumi. Was that the green-eyed man’s name? 

 

“Well good for Iwaizumi!” Oikawa said, throwing his hands in the air. He knew he was acting like a little kid, but he didn’t care. He buried his face in his hands and tried to think back to the last thing he remembered. He was in his bathroom, and then blank. Then waking up in that weird ass tank thing like some kind of science experiment-

 

Oikawa suddenly sat up, eyes wide. Science experiment. Those light creatures he saw were  _ aliens _ . He whooped. He was just abducted by aliens, how cool was that? 

 

“Uh, why are you cheering?” Hanamaki asked. The other three were looking at him like he had grown a second head. 

 

“Aliens,” Oikawa explained cheerfully. 

 

“What?” Yahaba asked. Oikawa pursed his lips thoughtfully. 

 

“I’ll hold off on the explanation, I don’t want to say it twice,” he decided. 

 

“You can’t just drop something like that on us and not explain!” Yahaba protested. 

 

“I’ll explain. Just not right now!” Oikawa said, dropping back onto the moss. Kunimi sighed. 

 

“He dead,” Hanamaki joked. 

 

“Do you guys know where we are?” Oikawa asked out of the blue. 

 

“Not anywhere on earth that’s for sure,” Yahaba shrugged. 

 

“We’re on an alien  _ planet _ ?” Oikawa’s eye twinkled,” I’ve been waiting for this my whole life!” 

 

“You just keep getting weirder,” Kunimi said bluntly.

 

“Thanks!” Oikawa grinned, flashing his signature peace sign,” Okay, now while I’m getting used to  _ these _ things, what  _ have _ you figured out?” 

 

“I fine with just figuring out how to stay alive thanks,” Kunimi said. Oikawa pursed his lips again.

 

“I don’t think they would leave us here without the necessary tools to survive,” he said after a beat of silence,” It’s probably why they changed our bodies; to match the terrain.” 

 

“Are you sure aliens put us here?” Yahaba asked,” Or are you just nuts?” 

 

“Both!” Oikawa laughed. 

 

“That doesn’t reassure me at all,” Hanamaki says,” But we have figured out a few things. Like everyone has a partner of a sorts. Like you are telepathically and empathically connected to one person. Oh! We all have an individualized scent. And also, all of our senses have gotten incredibly strong. It’s really cool!” 

 

“All of those things make sense!” Oikawa chirped. 

 

“I don’t see how any of this makes sense, I’m stuck on a alien planet with a bunch of strangers, I’m not human anymore, moreover  _ aliens exist _ , if I were dead instead that would be better than  _ this _ ,” Kunimi ranted. Oikawa clenched his jaw when he heard the last bit.

 

“Wow,” Yahaba whistled.

 

“That’s the most he’s said in three days!” Hanamaki chimed in, grinning mischievously. 

 

“You done, sweetheart?” Oikawa asked pleasantly, and everyone shivered from the sudden drop in temperature, not the steely-eyed look on Oikawa’s face, no not at all.

 

“Because let me tell you something else,” Oikawa continued crawling over, chocolate eyes boring into slate ones, reaching out to grab Kunimi’s jaw and yanking it down,” We could have it a  _ whole _ lot worse, you know? We could be being tortured, we could have watched as our loved ones died, or god forbid, we could have been left here  _ alone _ . And  _ never _ say you wish you were dead. Life is worth so much more than that. Be grateful for what you have and look at the positives of the situation. Because that attitude will get you nowhere, are we clear?” Kunimi nodded as best he could with his jaw still locked in place with Oikawa’s hand. 

 

“Zero to one-eighty in seconds,” Hanamaki observed.

 

“You’re kinda crazy,” Yahaba blurted. 

 

“I know,” Oikawa said, letting go of the raven haired man. His wings had become fluffed with aggression, and he expertly smoothed them down. He’d have to work on controlling that. What good was the best poker face if his wings showed everything he was feeling? Oikawa got up and walked out. He was done with being confined to the small space. Seeing the scene in front of him, he let out an astonished gasp.

 

A blue sun hung in the purple sky, green, wispy cotton clouds blocking out some of the harsh rays. They were at the base of a massive tree, thirty times bigger than it’s surroundings, on top of a mountain. The tree was decorated with large purple hanging bulbaceous flowers. The tree itself had smooth silver bark, with blue-gray leaves. The room Oikawa had just appeared from was made of humongous  roots from the equally ginormous tree. Oikawa could look out and see rolling hills, meadows, and forests to the east, mountains and forests to the west, lakes and forests to the north, and what looked like a yellow ocean and more of the ever expansive forest to his south. It was absolutely breathtaking. Oikawa couldn’t tear his eyes away. 

 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Yahaba asked. 

 

“Absolutely,” Oikawa exclaimed softly in French, wide eyes trained on the landscape in front of him. 

 

“What?” Hanamaki asked. 

 

“Ah! Sorry! I meant absolutely!” Oikawa said, switching back to Japanese. 

 

“Was that Italian?” Yahaba asked.

 

“Nope! French! I just love learning new languages!,” he explained. Hanamaki and Yahaba exchanged a look. He didn’t like the unspoken communication.

 

“What?” Oikawa demanded fiercely. 

 

“No! No not at all!” Yahaba said, waving his arms in front of him.

 

“We just were thinking, because Iwaizumi’s a halfie,” Hanamaki said,” Italian.” Oikawa smiled.

 

“Really? I mean I guessed he wasn’t completely japanese, but I wouldn’t have guessed Italian! And I’ve always wanted to learn Italian too!” Oikawa babbled happily. 

 

“Well, while you plan your wedding, I’m gonna nap,” Hanamaki says,” I’ve had the night shift for the last three days and I am tired as fuck.” 

 

“Geh! What wedding?” Oikawa says offendedly. Yahaba shakes his head. Hanamaki walks back into the little root house, and Oikawa plops down on the pliable earth, stretching forward and his new wings backward. 

 

“Oh, that feels nice actually,” Oikawa hums, allowing the wind to sift through his feathers. 

 

“They kinda feel like foreign fingers,” Yahaba says, plopping down next to him. 

 

“That’s a perfect description, actually,” Oikawa answered absentmindedly. Oikawa spread his wings to their full wingspan, flapped them a couple of times, trying to get used to the feeling. He moved them, arched them, spread them in every which way experimentally. He tested how far he could bend and twist without hurting himself, and discovered they were rather pliable. 

 

“I like them,” Oikawa decided. Yahaba laughed, which almost startled the latter after being so quiet for so long. 

 

“What are you doing anyway?” Yabaha asked.

 

“For my whole life, I’ve extensive and instinctively learned every part of my body, to complete perfection, so I know exactly how and what it needs or wants to make it perform the best. I need to quickly learn about this new body, and the extent of it, so I am able to push it to the max if the need arises,” Oikawa explained. As well as it helps me love a part of myself since my looks are the only thing good about me. Yahaba looked at him blankly. 

 

“It’s okay, I don’t expect you to understand,” Oikawa laughed. He turned his attention back to his wings, and began to poke and prod them. He found that the base skin closer to his back was tough, but as it expanded out towards his wingtips, the skin thinned out, although it was still pretty tough. He explored along the bone at the top, but when his fingers reached the bend of the bone connected by cartilage in the top middle, his fingers skimmed over a sensitive bunch of nerves, which gave him something similar to an electric shock, heat running throughout his whole body and making him shiver from the contrast of the cool air. His cheeks heated from embarrassment, and he refused to meet Yahaba’s eye.

 

“Are you alright?” Yahaba asked. Alright. Oikawa hated that word. 

 

“Yeah, I just found a sensitive spot,” Oikawa said, looking down and using his fingers to play with his toes a little. Yahaba gave a grunt of understanding. Oikawa quietly filed the spot away in the back of his mind for future reference, and continued exploring. Then he had an idea. He closed his eyes and assessed his condition, like he was back on the volleyball court. How was he feeling? Tired, and groggy. But not as bad as it had been in the tank. But just enough so that he could feel it. What was different? Well, he could smell, and see for that matter much better. He could smell and lemony chocolate scent coming from Yahaba next to him, and a raspberry and buttercream scent, as well as a cinnamon and sweet bread scent he identified as Hanamaki and Kunimi respectively. Hanamaki and Kunimi’s scents were...settled. As if they were asleep? Yahaba’s was a bit more active. Restless maybe. His hearing was better.  A squawk in the distance. The rustle of trees and various fauna. A soft wind chime-like sound, but almost higher somehow, echoed through the forest. The sound of Yahaba’s twitching fingers, sitting in his lap. Hanamaki and Kunimi’s soft, steady breathing. His own heartbeat, calm and settled. Oikawa took a deep breath. Anything else? Hm. He seemed more touch sensitive? Like he could feel the blades of grass beneath the palms of his hands and the grains of dirt in high definition. The wind prickled across his skin and he felt how and what direction it was coming from much better than ever. Alright. What was different about his body? The wings, of course. He ran his fingertips along his hips. They were wider than before, and his waist tinier. His thighs were larger, and not as sculpted. Like he had an extra deposit of fat. Softer? Yes that seemed about right, he was softer. He wasn’t sure if he hated it or not, but he had a strong feeling he wasn’t going to be able to get rid of it. He also felt lighter somehow? Like gravity wasn’t pushing down on his body as much. Or maybe he was a lot lighter. Maybe both. He also felt stronger. If that was possible. 

 

“Okay, what are you doing?” Yahaba asked suddenly, and this time, Oikawa did jump, feathers ruffled and concentration broken.

 

“Assessing my condition. Trying to figure out what’s different,” he answered shortly,” Do you feel lighter than you did? Like the gravity is less? Or your mass is less?” 

 

“Now that you mention it, kinda yeah. Why?” Yahaba questioned, flapping his wings in curiousity. Oikawa hummed, got up. What if he tried, I don’t know, jumping? How high would he go? He spotted a root just shy of his normal jumping height. He fixed his gaze, jumped, and overshot it by five feet.  He landed softly on the branch, extending his wings to balance himself, then grinned down at Yahaba.

 

“Whoa,” Yahaba said. Oikawa beckoned him up, and Yahaba looked apprehensive for a moment. 

 

“If I can overshoot it, then you can at least land  _ on _ it.”

 

“Alright, I’ll try,” Yahaba frowned. He braced himself, and jumped, overshooting it three feet. He had less time to balance himself, and Oikawa reached out to steady him. 

 

“This is pretty cool,” Oikawa said, shaking in excitement,” I wonder what else we can do!”

 

“Oh god, why did I agree to this?” Yahaba said. Oikawa grinned, and angled his gaze further up the roots of the tree. There was a perfect perch much farther up, halfway to the base. Oikawa wondered how he could reach it. Maybe if he spread out his wings and flapped a couple times after he jumped? Wait. If that worked, maybe he could  _ fly _ ! The possibility made him giddy. First he had to try this. He spread his wings and took a deep breath.

 

“What are you doing? Are you trying to get  _ there _ ? That’s too far! You’re gonna hurt yourself!” Yahaba protested, feathers on end with worry. Oikawa ignored him.

 

“Oikawa!” Oikawa jumped. And flapped, hard. One, two, three. Gusts of wind whooshed from his wings as he shot up. He landed on the branch, but wrong. His heart missed a beat and he slipped. 

 

“Oikawa!” Oikawa caught the branch by the edge of his fingertips and pulled himself up using a burst of air from his wings, steadying himself. His wings, mostly the muscles near his back, felt sore. He was gonna feel this tomorrow.

 

“Holy shit,” Yahaba called,” Are you a moron? You could have gotten seriously hurt!” 

 

“But Yahaba! Don’t you realize? What I just did?” Oikawa asked excitedly,” I  _ flew _ !” It took a moment for the words to register on Yahaba’s face. 

 

“You don’t think?” Yahaba asked. 

 

“Only one way to find out,” Oikawa said apprehensively. 

 

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Yahaba said. Oikawa nodded, and planned his next jump. There was about ten feet from where his was to the base of the tree. Twice as big as his last jump. Oikawa closed his eyes. How did he feel? His back was sore, but that was to be expected, he had never used his wings before. He never  _ had _ wings before. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins, making him feel strong. He could do this. And if he missed, he could always glide down safely. 

 

“I’m gonna go the rest of the way,” Oikawa told Yahaba.

 

“That’s  _ way _ too far!” Yahaba protested. Oikawa grinned.

 

“I can just glide down if something bad happens, so don’t worry, okay? Are you gonna jump here after I jump?” 

 

“I don’t know…”

 

“Try it. It feels exhilarating.”

 

“...Okay.” 

 

“Yes!” Oikawa raised his fist in celebration, and took a deep breath again. He let the world fall away, and it was just himself, and that ledge. He could do this. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, and jumped as far as he could. Halfway there, and his heart was pounding, mind screaming. He could he the wind roaring in his ears and blood pumping. He was gonna do this. He flapped, one, two, five and suddenly he at the top, feet hitting the solid earth, panting from the exertion, and muscles burning. He looked down fifteen feet at Yahaba, whose were wide as saucers. Oikawa spread his hands, wings shooting out as well, and grinned down at him, feathers flying and sun warm on his wings. 

 

“You coming?” Oikawa called. Yahaba nodded, almost dazedly. 

 

“Are you sure I can do that?” Yahaba shouted. 

 

“You can’t if you don’t believe in yourself!” Oikawa shot back. Yahaba nodded, and took a deep breath. Then, jumped and flapped. A little harder than Oikawa had and overshot it. But he also had enough time to balance himself. Yahaba looked up at Oikawa, eyes shining.

 

“Did you see what I just did! I did it!” Yahaba said, flapping his wings in excitement, and wobbling the perch. He went still and rebalanced himself. 

 

“Careful!” Oikawa warned, tensing a little. If he got hurt because of his suggestion, he wouldn’t forgive himself.

 

“That’s rich coming from you!” Yahaba shot back. Oikawa laughed. Well, he had a point. 

 

“Come on, jump the rest! I’ve got you!” Oikawa beckoned.

 

“But it’s so far!” Yahaba said.

 

“I’ve got you,” Oikawa said.

 

“Promise?”

 

“Oui, mon amie.”

 

“Whatever that meant.”

 

“Yes, my friend.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

“Just jump!” Oikawa said. 

 

“Alright!” Yahaba said,” Don’t rush me!” Yahaba visibly steeled himself. He jumped, and flapped. 

 

“You can do it!” Oikawa called, and Yahaba gave one more hard flap, and burst upwards, tumbling on the ground next to Oikawa. Oikawa laughed delightedly. 

 

“Look! You did it!” Oikawa said, clapping. Yahaba looked up at him, squinting his eyes. 

 

“What the hell are made of? How the hell do you still have enough energy to stand?” Yahaba asked.

 

“Sheer will-power!” Oikawa chirped. 

 

“I’m just glad these dress things aren’t longer than they are, or that would have been enormously more difficult than it was,” Yahaba shrugged, pulling himself up to a sitting position. Oikawa plopped down next to him, resting his wings on either side of him. 

 

“Look at that view. It’s even better from up here,” Yahaba said, mirroring his pose, their wing tips touching. 

 

“Yeah. Imagine if we got to the top of the tree!” Oikawa perked up. 

 

“Oikawa, no,” Yahaba said.

 

“Oikawa, yes,” Oikawa retorted.

 

“Look, I know you’re exhausted. I’m exhausted! And you just woke up! We need to make our wings stronger if we want to tackle  _ that _ . I know I’m going to feel this tomorrow, ugh,” Yahaba ranted. 

 

“Fiiiine,” Oikawa whined, draping his body across Yahaba’s lap, arranging his wings so they wouldn’t buff the other male in the face. Yahaba rolled his eyes, leaned backwards on the palms of his hands and tilted his face upwards, obviously enjoying the warmth of the sun on his skin. The higher they went, the colder it got, so the warmth was welcome. Yahaba’s scent settled comfortingly around his own, and he felt a strong sense of kinship. Oikawa rubbed his cheek on the soft fabric of Yahaba’s dress and sighed as he slowly relaxed every limb of his body. He felt Yahaba kick his feet back and forth on the ledge, and burrowed further into the other man, trying to leech warmth when a strong gust of wind blew past them. He heard Yahaba sigh.

 

“What?” Oikawa asked, voice muffled from the fabric. 

 

“Nothing,” Yahaba answers, and Oikawa pinches him.

 

“You wouldn’t have sighed if it was nothing.”

 

“I used to go on runs.”

 

Oikawa gestures for him to continue without looking up.

 

“And I took my dog, and I miss her, you know? This just kinda reminded me of her.”

 

Oikawa nuzzles against him in sympathy, and he knows Yahaba understands, and they sit like that for awhile.

 

“Look,” Yahaba said, and Oikawa turned his head to the side, away from Yahaba. The blue sun was setting, and the once purple sky was an array of greens, magentas, fiery oranges, and navy blues. They watched the sun creep down the horizon, softly enjoying the tranquility of it all. When it finally disappeared over the soft snow capped silver mountains, they both heard voices. 

 

“Guys, where’s Yahaba and...the other one?” Oikawa looked down, slightly miffed at being referred to as ‘the other one’. The others were back. With food, it smelt like. Oikawa’s stomach rumbled. 

 

“They’re not out there?” Hanamaki said faintly. 

 

“No! Where did they go? What if they got eaten by some freaky predator or something? What if they’re in trouble!” Kyoutani freaked. 

 

“Dude, chill, I’m sure they’re fine. I’m sure you would be able to feel if they were in trouble. Or at least Yahaba,” Matsukawa soothed. 

 

“Aw that’s cute,” Oikawa teased Yahaba, sitting up,” He’s worried about you.” Yahaba glared at him, but his cheeks were pink. 

 

“The other guy’s name is Oikawa Tooru, by the way,” Oikawa heard Kunimi say casually.

 

“Name sounds like trouble,” Iwaizumi grumbled. Oikawa frowned. He did have a point, but still, don’t judge a book by it’s cover, er, title, whatever!

 

“You wanna play a trick on them?” Yahaba asked suddenly. Oikawa blinked at him and sat up.

 

“I like the way you think,” Oikawa smirked. Yahaba smirked back. 

 

“So how should should we do this?” Yahaba whispered. 

 

“Maybe we should just hide up here for a few more minutes, then like drop down randomly,” Oikawa suggested. 

 

“I like it. Maybe drop a couple of rocks,” Yahaba suggested. Oikawa nodded, then pressed his index finger to his lips, and pulled Yahaba a ways away towards the base of the tree. There, they picked up various odd colored rocks and sticks. They sneaked back, got closer to the ground on their bellies. Oikawa arranged his wings so that were folded neatly on his back, then looked down at the panicking group. He let a rock fall down the ledge. They continued to panic. Yahaba cracked a stick in half. Nothing. Oikawa dropped a whole handful of pebbles. 

 

“Shut up! I think I heard something!” Iwaizumi shushed. Oikawa grinned at Yahaba. Yahaba broke another stick. 

 

“I heard that!” Hanamaki said. Everyone nodded. Oikawa started to crawl backwards, towards the tree so they couldn’t see him if stood up. Yahaba followed. Oikawa winked, and threw a rock down. 

 

“It came from up there!” 

 

Yahaba was silently cracking up, and Oikawa was near bursting out laughing himself. 

 

“Now?” Yahaba whispered. Oikawa nodded, and they ran to the ledge, and spread their wings. Oikawa cupped them like a parachute, and flapped them a little to soften the fall, and landed gracefully, thrown up peace sign and all. Yahaba mimicked the motions, landing less than gracefully, but unhurt nonetheless.  _ What? _ Everyone stared in shock, with quite a few dropped jaws, which made him smug. Just a little. 

 

“How?” Hanamaki asked. 

 

“We left you alone for two hours,” Iwaizumi said. They burst out laughing.  _ This guy is annoying. _

 

“Did you guys see how scared you were that’s hilarious!” Yahaba choked out.

 

“It wasn’t!” Kyoutani protested angrily. Why was this guy always so angry?  _ Same kid, same. _

 

“It was uniquely terrifying!” Kindaichi chimed in.

 

“That’s because you weren’t the ones playing the joke!” Oikawa said in french, wiping tears from his eyes. Iwaizumi raises an eyebrow.  _ Is that french?  _ Yep!

 

“Okaaay, but how do you get up there in the first place?” Iwaizumi asked.

 

“We flew!” Oikawa said excitedly.

 

“Jumped-flew,” Yahaba corrected,” Apparently, we can jump super high, like seven feet instead of like two.”  _ Seriously? _ Depending on how high you could jump on earth, but I’d say that’s about right.

 

“Seriously?” Hanamaki asked.

 

“Is that why we can run so fast?” Kyoutani wondered. 

 

“Probably,” Oikawa shrugged,” Anyway, I smelt you guys had food and I’m starving!” 

 

“You don’t get any,” Iwaizumi snapped.

 

“Why not!” Oikawa whined. 

 

“Because you’re rude! And you disappeared!” Iwaizumi says.

 

“Fine, then I won’t tell you how we got here!” Oikawa stomped his foot.  _ He knows something? What? _

 

“Stay out of my head Iwa-chan! I won’t tell you!” Oikawa stuck out his tongue childishly.  _ Iwa-chan? The hell? _

 

“Oi! Stop being strange and spill!” Iwaizumi barked. Oikawa stilled as a memory flashed through his head.  **A strange and worthless child.** Oikawa looked up, Iwaizumi looked slightly guilty. How dare he! 

 

“I am not strange,” Oikawa said, in clipped, angry tone.

 

“Wait, I’m sorry!” Iwaizumi said.

 

“You done fucked up dude,” Matsukawa says.

 

Oikawa ignored them and ran away. How dare he! Call him strange! No, it wasn’t enough that he absolutely hated himself, even the guy that was supposed to be connected to him hated him too. Why wasn’t he ever good enough for anybody? He didn’t need him. Maybe he could find his own way. Ugh, he was tired. How big was this mountain? He kept walking, hands in hidden pockets he found. 

 

“Stupid Iwa-chan,” he muttered, and kicked a rock. He didn’t know how long he walked, but at some point the ground evened out, and he began to hear rustling in the forest all around him. The wind chime sounds that had been soft earlier, were now loud and slightly frightening. He kept his head up, surveying everything around him. He decided to turn back when he realized he didn’t know which direction he’d come from. The wind chimes were getting louder, and it was disorienting. He covered his ears, but it didn’t help much. He stumbled in a direction he thought might be the path, but the forest only got denser. By this time there was loud squawking sounds as well, closing in from all sides. He couldn’t take it anymore and backed up against a tree, sliding down the rough bark. Oh he was gonna die, oh my god help help help help-

 

“I don’t want to die,” Oikawa cried out, and along with the words were a very inhuman scream that reverberated through the forest, scaring the wildlife. The forest fell silent around him. Oikawa sat there and sobbed. There was a sudden grunt from in front of him, and his head shot up. There, a large silver animal twice the size of him had a configuration of feathers and fur, along with sharp teeth and claws, and a long tail with a barb at the end, and oh god he was gonna die wasn’t he? Oikawa only cried harder.

 

“Please don’t kill me,” he told the beast. As if it would understand him. Suddenly, he felt something very warm and wet. He looked up to the beast licking his face with a long, snake-like tongue. Was it tasting him? Then the beast sat on it’s great haunches, and looked at Oikawa. And Oikawa looked back. The beast’s eyes were bright purple, swirling with depth and knowledge. Intelligence. All at once, Oikawa understood. He was being comforted. He smiled, swallowing his tears.

 

“Thank you,” he sniffled. The beast nudged him, and Oikawa hugged it’s head. It’s feathers were soft, and the beast was warm, greatly contrasting the cold of the night. Oikawa shivered, and cocooned his wings around him to shield himself from the harsh winds.

 

“It’s cold and I’m hungry and lost. Can you help me?” Oikawa asked. The beast licked him, then kneeled. It wanted him to ride on it’s back. Hesitantly, Oikawa slipped on, and wrapped his arms as much as he could around it’s neck, so he wouldn’t pull on any of its back feathers. The beast stood up and dashed away. Oikawa flattened himself to decrease wind resistance. He looked at the dark blurred landscape around him in wonder. They were going so quickly! He felt a bit nauseous, so he buried his face in the beast’s back feathers. After a minute, they stopped moving. Oikawa sat up. They were inside a hollow, and there were several pups yapping around them.

  
“Are these your children?” Oikawa asked. The mother made for him to get down, and he slid off. The pups immediately bombarded him. The mother pushed them away with her tail, barb sheathed. Two of them went off to explore other things, and the third sat beside him and looked at him expectantly. He began to groom its feathers, since he didn’t know what else to do. He looked up, and the mother was offering him some of the crystal-like fruit that he’d seen growing from the trees. He took it and cocked his head to the side. The pup next to him took it and banged it against a tree, and gave it back to Oikawa, with it cracked, looking very proud of themselves. The other two yapped at their mother and she picked down enough fruit for all of them. Oikawa cracked it all the way open and and drank the juice, then eating the fruit, and it was just about the juiciest thing he’s ever tasted. Kind of sweet and sour, like a like an apple, but with the texture of a melon. He groaned in happiness and wolfed it down, finishing two others, which were cracked open for him by the mother. He wiped his mouth off, and looked to see the mother corralling the pups into a nest made of a tall grass of some sort and an assortment of feathers. She trotted over and nudged him inside too. He curled in a ball using one of the pups as a pillow, tucking his wings into a comfortable position. One of the other pups layed next to his wings, pressing them into his back in way that was not uncomfortable, and the last laid on top of his thighs. The mother curled herself around them all, and Oikawa felt his eye droop, and didn’t stop the sleep that came to him.


	2. A Little Slice of Heaven in My Own Personal Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So a drug dealer then?” Oikawa raised an eyebrow, trying to pick off a particularly stubborn piece,” Anymore shady business dealings I need to know about before I let you dirty my precious Makki?” Kyoutani snorted.
> 
>  
> 
> “I’ll have you know, I have a clean record, thank you very much!” Matsukawa huffed.
> 
>  
> 
> “Clean record doesn’t mean nothing, only means you weren’t stupid enough to get caught,” Oikawa shoots him a look.

 

 

The next morning Oikawa blinked his eyes open, only to be bombarded by long sticky tongues. Squirming, he pushed them away and fell out of the nest, receiving an affectionate nuzzle from mother beast. Eating some fruit for breakfast, he lightly roughhoused with the pups; and it was as if they knew that if they weren’t careful, they could hurt him, and their care made warmth blossom in Oikawa’s chest. Playtime extended until the sun rose to it’s highest peak, and they were called upon by mother beast. After settling on their back and taking off, the group migrated to a small lake surrounding an even smaller island sporting a tree supporting tons of large glowing flowers overflowing with a watery purple nectar; Purple firefly-like bugs buzzed around the tree, and all Oikawa could do was watch in wonder.  

 

Mother beast and their pups begin splashing and rolling around in the water, and Oikawa feels absolutely disgusting, and a bath would probably be a good idea. He undresses and steps into the water, relishing the coolness on his sore back muscles. He ducks into the water to wet his hair, coming back up with a gasp. His wings are growing heavy, dragging behind him in the water, and he guesses that the moisture has found it’s way through first layer of feathers, and it will probably take him forever to dry now. Pouting, he shakes the water off to air-dry. There’s a grunt, and he looks left to see mother beast curled beside him, tail hanging delicately off a branch and paws tucked under their massive body. Relaxing slightly, Oikawa leans back on his hands, tilting his head back to allow the sun to warm his face. A moments of peace, broken only when mother beast calls for their pups. Oikawa doesn’t fancy being wet all over again, so he hastily grabs his clothes to hide behind a bush and gets dressed. 

 

He feels refreshed, and mother beast doesn’t offer him a ride, which is either because of his still dripping wings, which, thank god this cloth is water resistant, because he does not want to feel that, shit drives him crazy, or because where they’re going isn’t too far off. He’s right in the latter’s assumption -although he wouldn’t judge if it were the former- and they stop just before a small clearing, hidden by the wind shifted foliage. Mother beast pulls him to the front and gives him a look that clearly says ‘ _ watch me _ ’, enough to remind Oikawa of his own mother fleetingly, brushing away the small pang of homesickness that comes with the thought, and hurries to follow their example. They pulls themselves into a crouch, and their students mimic them, Oikawa making sure to flatten his wings across his back, to aide in doing what he thinks they’re doing. 

 

He’s right because a moment later, a odd silver reptilian deer-like creature with a hollow bone on it’s head appears. The wind blows through the horn making a low pitched sound and he feels that if his hearing was any less than it was, he wouldn’t have been able to hear it. He shifts subtly in anticipation, and mother beast stills him with a touch of her tail, rustling his feathers slightly. The creature looks up from it’s grazing, the sound of the wind filtering through it’s horned head. Oikawa tenses, stiling and trying to calm his rapid heartbeat. He hopes that he hasn’t scared away their prey and made mother beast irritated. Suddenly, mother beast nudges him forward when the wind dies down, and he can feel his companions beside him growing restless with unleashed energy. He surges forward completely on a burst of instinct to jump upon the unsuspecting prey, knocking it it’s graceful legs down and effectively pinning it to the ground in a rush of adrenaline. It struggles beneath him, fighting for life, and Oikawa looks up to mother beast and the pups looking at him expectantly. He feels something  _ primal _ arise within him and claws unsheathe from his fingertips. He slices the throat of the animal mouth twitching with uncomfort when they snag on the wild-hardened scales, and it falls still, bleeding out onto the ground. He looks up again and is met with several high-pitched yips of approval. 

 

Mother beast nudges the kill towards him but he shakes his head, pushing it towards the family. Soon after, the carcass is slaughtered by the pack. Oikawa watches with a bland curiosity, but looks away when he feels rustling in the undergrowth behind him. A small animal peeks it’s way out of a bush, completely blending in with the spiky silver branches. He takes note of it’s reptilian scales, but it’s small size of a squirrel. Judging by the nubs of spikes along it’s neck, it’s most likely not fully grown. It scampers towards him, and curiously flaps onto his shoulder with it’s bat-like wings. It blinks at him, then looks longingly at a low hanging branch, heavy with strange berries. Oikawa reaches up and picks a few of the small, odd green dotted purple fruit, then offers his hand to the creature, sheathing his claws to show friendliness. The creature eats brazenly from his cupped hand and settles itself on his shoulder, making the fabric slip off with it’s restless movements. Looks like he made a new friend. Oikawa pets it wondering what happened to his cat he left at home, and a flash of a memory of Yahaba saying something about missing his dog comes to the forefront of his mind. He looks down at the small animal, and it tilts its head sweetly in a curious way. 

 

“I’m going to call you Shinji!” Oikawa jumps up excitedly, nearly making Shinji fall off his shoulder, which results in several scratches on his shoulder and a sting which he

ignores,” And you’ll be a friend for someone important to me ‘cause he’s lonely, ‘kay?” He doubts the animal understands him, but judging by the twine of it’s tail around his bicep, it understands that it’s staying with him. Hearing a sharp yip, Oikawa looks up. Mother beast bounds over, powerful leg muscles rippling in the afternoon sunlight. They bends, using their snout to nudge him in a certain direction and steps back. Oikawa looks back at her, eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. Mother beast gestures with their tail in the direction they nudged him in and suddenly, it clicks. They’re telling him to go home. Oikawa feels tears rising, and he feels no shame in spilling them. He reaches to wrap his arms around mother beast’s muzzle, and they lick his hair, making it stick up unnaturally on one side. Tears fall down his cheeks, and he moves to the side to say good-bye to the pups. They each lick him, in the fondness of companionship and he can’t help but to give them a teary, yet heartfelt smile. The pups trot away, disappearing through the trees, and Oikawa rubs the tears from his already swollen eyes. He raises his hand to the elder beast as a final good-bye, and mother beast meets him halfway, and his palm nestles on the soft feathers that line her forehead. He he pulls his hand back, breaking the tentative connection, and mother beast is gone. Shinji gives a small croak of comfort on his shoulder, reminding him that he is not alone. He smiles wryly, rubbing his smooth head and enticing a small coo of affection, and begins to walk in the direction of which he had been guided, quietly promising to never forget her as long as he lives. 

 

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

 

He stalks through the forest with a smooth silence, listening to the sound of the wildlife that engulfs him and the low warble of Shinji, only stopping every so often to listen for possible danger. He finds himself frustrated, privately wondering if he’s even going in the right direction at  _ all _ because at this rate he’s going to have to spend the night unprotected, and he does  _ not _ like the sound of that. He walks under a well sized tree and an idea flashes through his head. He sets Shinji on the ground, ignoring his worried croak, and jumps, flapping his sore wings, privately noting to stretch them properly after every good work out to prevent the soreness in the future. He lands on a sizable branch, steadying himself. He scans the horizon and spots the home tree, just as Shinji joins him, hiding amongst his dress in fear. Oikawa begins to wonder what he so afraid of when he hears two screeches behind him. Over his shoulder, he sees a large nest with three equally large eggs, and two large bird-like creatures that remind him an awful lot of a Quetzalcoatlus dinosaur with feathers of fire. Props to his nephew for making him watch those awful dino documentaries. 

 

The larger snapped at him, mouth filled to the brim with long fangs the size of his head, and Oikawa scrambled to the end of his branch, trapped. The smaller roughly pushed him off the branch, and the big one dipped and snatched him, jumping into the air to rise up in flight. He could feel Shinji clinging to the fabric of his dress and he came to a horrific realization as they soared higher, bile rising in his throat. He was going to be dropped. The primal feeling stirred and his claws unsheathed. He scrambled for purchase on the creature’s thick skin, and grabbed a fistful of it’s feathers. He scrambled himself onto it’s back, and to the dismay of the thing, knocking one of it’s teeth loose when he swung in the air after he failed to climb further and his momentum was too much. Oikawa’s reflexes kicked in, and he snatched it, and jamming it between his teeth, poking himself on the sharp fangs protruding from his gums while Shinji scrambled to hold onto his shoulder. The creature began to buck, trying to Oikawa fling off, but he held fast, claws sinking into the tough hide. When he managed to get a proper grip, he reached over and scratched at the creature's eyes, claws sinking into the soft tissue with a loud squelch. Oikawa had no time to be squeamish, and the creature gave a loud screech of pain, and began to descend, talons outstretched to land. Thinking fast, Oikawa stirred the monster towards the home tree. They dropped at an alarming speed, landing with a harsh jerk just at the base of the mountain. Oikawa rolled off the creature’s back, and Shinji scrambled to get to the ground. He honestly didn’t blame the little guy. The beast shook itself, feather scattering from where Oikawa pulled them out, and it faced Oikawa’s direction, ruined eyes dripping with dark green blood. They fell still, waiting for the other to make the first move. 

 

Without warning, it darted towards him, and he ducked out of the way, and leaped onto it’s back with a sharp outstretch and flap of his wings. He wrapped his arms around it’s neck and held fast, ready for the creatures bucking. As predicted, it bucked, and he took his make-shift knife in his hand and lodged it into the creature’s throat. It tried to call out, but the only sound that came was the blood gurgling from the wound. Oikawa ripped the fang from it’s flesh and aimed at the back of the creature’s neck, the bone sinking in as silent as the death it was to wrot. The creature stilled and collapsed, giving a final shudder before Oikawa pulled his the blood drenched fang out. He stood atop of the beast’s back, and the primal part of him stirred yet again, urging him to announce his victory. He screeched into the air, holding up his make-shift knife, wings extended, and panting slightly from exertion. 

 

“Now  _ that _ is the way to make an entrance. I will now accept nothing else,” said a voice of awe, and Oikawa whirled around, mind taking a second to register the voice as

Hanamaki. Nearly whole group lay at the base of the mountain, jaws dropped in shock.  _ Holy Shit. _ Hell yeah, don’t mess with me, bitch. Oikawa leaped off the carcass’s back and bounded towards them in delight. 

 

“I’ve been looking for you guys everywhere! I got lost! And had a bit of adventure I guess,” Oikawa shrugged, gesturing to the body behind him.

 

“We can see that,” Iwaizumi said, popping his jaw slightly. He really shouldn’t do that, it’s bad for him. As soon as he thought it, Iwaizumi’s jaw stilled. 

 

“Dude, you’re covered in blood,” Matsukawa gestured to him exasperatedly.

 

“And you have this kinda...wild look in your eye,” Yahaba’s wings shuffled in discomfort. Oikawa grinned wickedly, and everyone took a step back.

 

“You could say I got in touch with my primal side. Did you know we also have fangs and claws?” Oikawa said, showing off his teeth and sheathing and unsheathing his claws. 

 

“That’s fucking awesome,” Kyoutani breathes, looking for all the world like a kid in a candy store. 

 

“Well, it was pretty badass,” Oikawa said haughtily, flipping his hair. He turns back to the carcass and studies it for a moment before trying to pull it towards the direction of  the mountain path. Oikawa can hear Shinji scamper to follow them, and everyone rushes to help him bring it to their encampment. When they arrive, Oikawa beckons to the small animal, and it scurries into his arms. 

 

“Yahaba?” Oikawa beckoned, biting his lip slightly.  _ We’ll go find Kindaichi and Kunimi.  _ So that’s who’s missing. 

 

“Yeah?” Yahaba turned to him when everyone disappeared. Oikawa hands him the small reptile-mammal thing. 

 

“This is Shinji. You said you missed your dog...right?” Oikawa looks at him, brown eyes wide with hope, and Yahaba reaches for the small animal. It scurries onto his arm, sniffing at his hair. Yahaba smiles brightly, and Oikawa takes this as a good sign.

 

“I guess I forgive you for worrying me,” Yahaba mussed his hair teasingly, and Oikawa instantly relaxed. 

 

“We should really go wash all that blood off before we tackle  _ that _ though,” Yahaba pointed to the giant carcass,” you look like a walking murder scene.” 

 

“Well, I did just fight a giant beast to the death, so…”

 

“So dramatic!” 

 

“Well it’s true! If I hadn’t won, I would have died!” 

 

“Whatever,” Yahaba rolled his eyes,” Come on, there’s a waterfall somewhere over here.” Oikawa followed him, and as they passed Hanamaki and Matsukawa, they told them where they were going. The two reached a small secluded waterfall, and at the most it was  three feet taller than Tooru, and twice as wide. It was coming from somewhere near the home tree, creating a cascading river down the side of the mountain that fed the valley below. Oikawa unhurriedly undressed and sank into the water. The feeling of relief was immediate. He closed his eyes and let the cool water soothe his aching muscles. He heard a splash, and opened an eye to Yahaba getting into the water as well, Shinji content to curl on their clothes dropped on the river bank. 

 

“Do you want me to scrub your hair?” He offered, crooking his fingertips to show his intent. Oikawa leaned back and closed his eyes once more in silent consent, and he felt Yahaba’s fingertips begin to massage his scalp. He purred, the sound louder than the water around him, and he could smell the savory amusement in Yahaba’s scent. 

 

“Dunk,” Yahaba ordered, and Oikawa obliged, dunking and coming back up for air with a small cough. His wings were soaked by now, and he stopped struggling and let them relax in the water on either side of Yahaba. Yahaba began to massage his scalp again, and Oikawa continued to purr. 

 

“So guess what Hanamaki figured out earlier?” Yahaba said, voice tranquil as the forest scene surrounding them. 

 

“What?” Oikawa asks, tipping his head to one side so Yahaba could scratch an itch. 

 

“Do you want Hanamaki to tell you? Because he’s right here!” Hanamaki said loudly, popping up from absolutely nowhere,” And I didn’t know this was like, a bathing session. Heaven knows Bloodbath-san over there needs it!” 

 

“True,” Kunimi sighed, already taking off his dress as slow as he possibly could, eyeing the cold water warily.  

 

“Do you want to be next?” Oikawa said, opening his eyes to look at Hanamaki, mouth curling into a smile that was just as much deadly as it was sweet. 

 

“I think I’ll just take a bath, thanks,” Hanamaki said quickly, shimming out of his dress and scurrying into the river, using his wings to clumsily swim the length it took to get to them. Oikawa smirked and leaned back into Yahaba’s touch. He waited until Kunimi followed Hanamaki into the water and they were settled before speaking. 

 

“So, what did you find out?” Oikawa asked, closing his eyes again. 

 

“Why we’re dressed differently, and why the other guys smell differently,” Hanamaki grinned, pushing his bangs out his face with a scoop of water. Oikawa’s eyes popped open and he shot up, and Yahaba took this as his cue to move away. Oikawa folded his wings behind flat against his back to keep him from being distracted by the water’s current that was currently tugging at them.

 

“Well, I was masterbaiting,” Hanamaki started, and at Oikawa’s disgusted look he put up a hand,”Hear me out!” 

 

“Okay, so I was-you know, and suddenly I feel like this weird slippery kind of stuff? Coming from my ass, which was weird enough, let me tell you. So I try to figure out where it’s coming from, and apparently I was  _ leaking _ . So I stuck a finger up there, and it slipped right in, and I was like  _ holy shit _ . I finished and I was sitting there thinking and I cleaned myself off and went and talked to Kunimi,” Hanamaki ranted shuddering at the right parts.

 

“So I had an idea that it was probably because we are kind of like the ‘females’ of the group, or the ‘submissives’, so we talked to Yahaba and he was like yeah that makes sense,” Kunimi said, wings slightly disturbing the current of the water as he flapped them lazily to help his circulation, and Hanamaki swatted with with the tip of his wing, earning a glare. 

 

“What do you think?” Yahaba asked him, cocking his head to the side. 

 

“Well, they can’t exactly leave us here, all males, without a way to repopulate,” Oikawa said, after a moment's thought,” and it makes sense that they’d want males, because we’re pretty sturdy after all. That also meets the fact that my physique changed, and the added fat helps meet the criteria of childbirth, if I were to think on it.”

 

“Also the fact that we’re bonded,” Yahaba chimed in leaning against a rock jutting out from the river bottom, positioning his wings flat across his back while scooping water onto his neck,” Maybe they wanted to make sure we would repopulate or something?” 

 

“That and make survival easier,” Oikawa hesitantly rubbed his chin,” But what worries me is that I feel like there’s something else we’re missing. One last piece of the puzzle.”

 

“Like what?” Hanamaki raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

 

“You know how dogs have heat and girls get their period and shit?” Oikawa clarified, wading towards Yahaba’s position to leach some of his heat.

 

“Yeah,” Kunimi murmured, migrating after him, Hanamaki’s wings splashing obnoxiously to follow. 

 

“Well, my instinct, something I’ve very finely tuned in the last few days and has never failed me before,” Oikawa began pompously, wrapping his long arms around Yahaba’s waist, adjusting his neck on the younger’s shoulder so he doesn’t get a mouthful of feathers,” Is that there’s something else, something along the lines of that nature.”

 

“Well fuck, I don’t wanna bleed!” Hanamaki said, eyes going a little wide as he put his hands in the air, wings slightly quivering in fear,” Is was weird enough having that  _ stuff _ come out of me!” 

 

“I don’t think we’ll bleed, I just said something similar. I don’t think we can afford to lose blood. And plus, that would attract predators,” Oikawa reasoned with him, eyes darting to a slightly panicking Kunimi, who’s wings were shaking as well, although it may have been due to the coolness of the water. 

 

“Hopefully,” Yahaba frowned, kicking Oikawa’s leg for squishing him a little too hard. Oikawa playfully swatted his arm. 

 

“Well that’s great and all, but what do we call it?” Kunimi said, calming slightly, wings stiling.

 

“Call what?” Hanamaki wondered, wading directly in front of Yahaba.

 

“Like the whole sub and dom thing,” Kunimi clarified, seeing them huddle up, he pulled himself to the other side of Yahaba and dropped his head on the older’s shoulder. 

 

“Oh.” came Hanamaki’s answer. 

 

“We could say Alpha and Omega,” Oikawa offered lightly, reaching over to pet Kunimi’s hair and receiving a slight purr. 

 

“What the hell does that mean?” Hanamaki asked, scratching his head. 

 

“It’s a wolf hierarchy system,” Oikawa explained with a relaxed sigh,” We would be Omegas, they would be Alphas.” 

 

“Ah.” Hanamaki muttered dropping his hands in the water with a small splash. 

 

“I like it,” Yahaba agreed, shooting a glare at Hanamaki, who didn’t even bother pretending to look apologetic. 

 

“It’s better than nothing, I guess,” Kunimi shrugged, and Oikawa gave him an offended huff, which was pointedly ignored. 

 

“Are we gonna like, discuss this with the others?” Yahaba asked, shaking his head at them. 

 

“Less crudely. Like, bring it up to them, explain, but don’t say how we found out,” Oikawa said, shifting his feather towards the sun to stretch, then folding them back against his back.

 

“The whole ‘something is coming’ thing makes me nervous though,” Hanamaki said, with air quotes. Oikawa hummed absentmindedly in agreement, focused on scratching Kunimi behind the ear.

 

“Oikawa’s kind of like the dominate one of us, aren’t you? Like the mom or something,” Kunimi said suddenly, picking his head off Yahaba’s shoulder. 

 

“Yeah, I was just thinking that,” Hanamaki said, gesturing to said man,” Like I sometimes instinctively think ‘oh, don’t make him mad’, or ‘do what he says’, or whatever.” Oikawa shot him a haughty smile, his feather ruffling proudly. 

 

“I agree. And does anybody get the weird instinct to kind of lower their head whenever someone gets upset with you?” Yahaba asked, scooping up water to wet Kunimi’s hair,” ‘Cause it’s happened a couple times for me and I was just wondering if that was normal.”

 

“I got that urge when Oikawa told me off,” Kunimi says, frowning at Yahaba for getting it in his eyes. 

 

“I got it when Matsukawa got pissed and yelled at me after I disappeared for an hour when you left,” Hanamaki adds, laughing at the two,” He apologized, it was just everyone was on high tensions when you left.”

 

“I haven’t experienced it yet but I’m sure I will, it’s a sign of submission,” Oikawa said, instinctively knowing the answer. 

 

“Well, I’ve got to fight the urge better then,” Yahaba says, fluffing his hair. 

 

“I think we should get out now, I smell food,” Kunimi said, sniffing the air, wings flapping a little to stimulate the scent towards them. . 

 

“Definitely. And Shinji’s looking a bit restless,” Yahaba said, casting a glance at the creature on the riverbank. Oikawa’s stomach rumbled. He hadn’t eaten since the fruit that morning! The other three looked at him in bemusement, and he grinned threw a peace sign. They got out and got dressed, Oikawa making sure to clean his garment beforehand and lay it out to dry, and followed the scent of cooking meat. The group reached the clearing, and the rest of the group was sitting around the fire. Iwaizumi didn’t bother looking up when they walked up. 

 

“Used some of the meat from that bird thing, hope you don’t mind. The game here is insanely fast,” he shrugged. Oikawa shook his head, plopped down on a log, stretching his wings out behind him.  

 

“No, I don’t. I just want something other than fruit at this point,” Oikawa sighed shaking some of the water from his still-wet wings.

 

“I’ve been dying for some meat!” Hanamaki cheered, plopping down at Oikawa’s feet, folding his wings back for the first time that morning.

 

“It’s really good, if a little tough,” Kyoutani offered, gesturing to the bit of meat he had in his hands. 

 

“Needs salt,” Matsukawa sniffed at it. The omegas got their food, and sit in a close knit group not too far from the others. 

 

“I feel like you guys are those girls on the other side of the gym at a school dance,” Matsukawa joked. They all looked up from their food, and Oikawa swallowed what he had in his mouth. 

 

“Actually…” Oikawa began.

 

“We kind of are,” Yahaba supplied, shoving some meat into his mouth. 

 

“We figured out some things,” Hanamaki nodded. The other group exchange looks.  _ Why can’t I just live in peace?  _ Ha, RIP Iwa-chan. Iwaizumi glared at him. 

 

“Like what?” Matsukawa wondered, eyebrow raising. Boy has got some serious eyebrow game. Iwaizumi snorted, drawing some weird looks. 

 

“Like how and why we’re different,” Hanamaki said,” Apparently, we’re like the girls of the group. We figure out that this stuff sort of-”

 

“Comes out,” Yahaba interjects before Hanamaki could go into detail,” When we’re...you know.” They blink at him. 

 

“Self lubricant, morons,” Kunimi spoke up, licking his fingers, which drew him some looks from the alphas.

 

“Anyway,” Oikawa clapped his hands,” I was thinking it’s kind of like a second gender. We have our primary, and this one would be our secondary. It’s also probably why we smell sweeter as well! I figure we’re probably capable of childbirth, so if you guys are gonna fuck, be aware that is a possible effect! We also gave it a name to make it less confusing, so we’re omegas, and you guys are alphas!”

 

“And that’s about it,” Yahaba finished for him. 

 

“Most of that makes sense, but where did the whole Alpha-Omega thing come from?” Kindaichi asks cocking his head in confusion. Oikawa opens his mouth to answer. 

 

“The wolf hierarchy system. You didn’t know that?” Iwaizumi interjects, looking honestly confused. 

 

“Uh, no. Who spends their spare time learning about wolf hierarchy systems?” Matsukawa jokes.

 

“Oikawa,” All the omegas, sans Oikawa, said simultaneously. 

 

“Wow, that was really creepy,” Kyoutani mutters. They shrug simultaneously. Kindaichi wings shudder. They all bask in the last of the afternoon sunlight, and Oikawa begins to hum loudly, drawing a few frowns.  _Ugh, now he's humming?_

 

“Stop it,” Iwaizumi glared. Oikawa frowned. He can’t tell him what to do!  _ The hell I can’t. _ Don’t. Tell. Me. What. To. Do. You are not my father!  _ It doesn’t matter! _ The hell it doesn’t! Ever since I woke up you’ve been absolute jackass!  _ I have not! You’re just a childish spoiled brat!  _ Oikawa laughed out loud darkly, wings fluffing out from aggression. 

 

“Obviously, you aren’t very good at reading the situation, but I was never spoiled.  _ Ever.  _ My life was a living hell,” Oikawa snapped, picking his way out his group and walking away, smoothing his feathers down.  _ Well then why do you act like this? _ Oikawa ignored him. 

 

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

 

Oikawa found himself mindlessly working on the kill of the large bird he brought into camp. Fortunately, it gave his mind and hands something to do so he wouldn’t think about having yet again another fight with Iwaizumi. He ripped out all the teeth to use as knives and carefully pulled all the feathers out, then used a fang to rip off one of the wings, setting it on top of the pile of feathers so they didn’t fly away. Hah, feathers, fly away. He snorted at his own joke and disemboweled the corpse, which was rather disgusting if he might add, and left the innards in the forest for the animals. He dug into the animal’s neck and ripped the skull off the spinal cord, then began to peeled it away from the tissue. Maybe use it for a decoration or something. It took him the better part of an hour to carefully remove the skin and set it aside. He removed the larger bones and ribcage from the organism, surprised when it was slightly longer than he was tall. He de-clawed it, deciding to make tools out of the talons. He was making arrows from the still pliable bone when he caught a whiff of Yahaba coming up from behind him. 

 

“You know, you should really announce yourself, I could have killed you, you know?” Oikawa said suddenly, still not looking up from his work and startling the other man.

 

“I could, but I just know you wouldn’t hurt me,” Yahaba chuckled, letting Shinji onto the ground to steal some scraps. 

 

“How do you know?” Oikawa wondered, inspecting the arrow’s head. 

 

“Because I have a feeling you know you’re in charge, and so you feel a responsibility over us. You feel protective of us, maybe even love us.”

 

“Hm. You might be right about that,” Oikawa hummed softly, and apparently satisfied with the arrow, he put it aside and finally looked up. Yahaba was standing in front of him now, wings drooping slightly, not quite meeting his eyes, looking at the mess he had made of the carcass. 

 

“What’s all this?” Yahaba questioned, gesturing to his neatly sorted piles of bone. 

 

“My spoils,” Oikawa answered shortly, going back to making arrows,” Bone is stronger than stone or wood, so they made good weapons and tools.” 

 

“What are you going to do with the ribcage?” Yahaba said, eyeing it. 

 

“Pull that skin over it and use it as the roof for a nest,” Oikawa said running a hand through his wild curls,” The nights are growing colder, have you noticed? We need warmer shelter, especially for Kunimi, I noticed him start to shake when the sun went down.” 

 

“Nest? Like sticks and mud nest?” Yahaba wrinkled his nose at the thought, wings shuffling. 

 

“No no, like straw and feathers nest, covered with more skins,” Oikawa laughed, finishing another arrow. 

 

“Do you even know how to make that?” Yahaba questioned, sitting down next to him. 

 

“Do you?” Oikawa fired back, raising an eyebrow.

 

“I just-”

 

“Think about it. Better yet, feel it,” Oikawa said, finally putting his last arrow down and looking the younger omega in the eye, noticing with a start, that they were reflective in the dark. No wonder he could see so well. 

 

“Huh,” came the huff of curiosity from Yahaba.

 

“Understand now?” Oikawa smiled fondly. 

 

“Yeah! Whoa, that’s so weird! I just got...a feeling. If I thought about it-”

 

“You wouldn’t be able to do it. But if you just let your hands do the work…” Oikawa trailed off, stretching his wing and back muscles. 

 

“Weird…” Yahaba muttered again, smoothing his hand across his feather, absentmindedly preening his wings. Oikawa chuckled, but he didn’t blame the younger male. When that instinct first stirred, it surprised him as well, but he was quicker to adapt than most, so he swiftly learned to not only be used to it, but use it so he was at an distinct advantage. The mentoring from the mother beast helped immensely as well, he thought adamantly. 

 

“What happened?” Yahaba suddenly asked, as if he was trying to catch him off guard, but Oikawa had been ready for it. 

 

“Just another argument. Those are normal amongst people who don’t get along, you know,” Oikawa said sharply, long fingers rearranging his arrow pile daintily, words hiding an underlying meaning that he knew Yahaba would pick up:  _ Don’t ask. _

 

“Right…” Yahaba said, lowering his head slightly despite himself,” Can I help?” 

 

“Yeah, go grab some people to put these bones in the sun to bleach, and distribute a knife for each person, I don’t care who gets what, they’re all the same besides the two incisors anyway, and I’m taking those,” Oikawa said, shooting him a grateful look as he rose to do as he was told. Yahaba smiled back and hurried off to go gather volunteers, taking the small pile of teeth with him. Oikawa rubbed his face, surveying everything.

 

“We need a storage shed,” He muttered, then picked up the surprisingly lightweight rib cage. Must be because it was hollow. Or maybe he was stronger. He passed Yahaba leading Kyoutani and Kindaichi to his mess of a kill and gave them all a little wave. He went through the camp, occasionally shifting the weight of the large set of ribs, because damn they suddenly got heavy. He was barely able to fit them through the opening of the den, but managed, somehow. He put his hands on his hips, nodded at his work, then went to visit Kyoutani, because Iwaizumi did not deserve to be blessed with his presence. He found him setting some of the arrows on a flat rock that was known to get lots of sun. Kyoutani looked up when he approached, and his wings fluffed and grew more noticeably tense as he drew closer. 

 

“What do you want?” he snapped. Oikawa blinked. Well, he was in a bad mood. Wonder why?

 

“Do you know of any trees in the area that might have stringy sort of bark? Like similar to cedar or dogwood? Wait, those are american, you wouldn’t know what-”Oikawa babbled

 

“Ask Matsukawa,” Kyoutani cut him off and turned back to arranging the arrows,” He studies botany anyway.” Oikawa nodded, eyebrows furrowing at the male’s aggression, but chooses to ignore it because he tries to be a good person, and walks towards Matsukawa across the clearing.

 

“Mattsun!” Oikawa called, jogging over.

 

“Who, me?” Matsukawa asked, pointing to his chest.

 

“Yep,” Oikawa said, popping the ‘p’, crossing his arms and jutting out his hip.

 

“Yeah?” Matsukawa asked, gesturing for him to elaborate. 

 

“You know what cedar and dogwood are?” 

 

“Yeah, trees in america, both commonly used to-”

 

“Make rope.”

 

“...So?”

 

“Have you found any sort of trees that might be similar to them?” 

 

“I think I saw one that might do the trick, gimme a sec and I’ll show you,” Matsukawa sighed, scratching his nose. Hm, He only seemed to do that whenever he was irritated. Was it just him or did none of the alphas like him? 

 

“Thank you,” Oikawa said sincerely. Maybe that would help show he wasn’t all that bad.

 

“Yeah…” Matsukawa sighed, walking off,” Meet me at the treeline in like, ten minutes.” 

 

“Kay!” Oikawa chirped. When he jogged over there to wait, there was a small porcupine like creature, but instead of cartilage spikes, they were crystal. The little thing was trying to get some berries from a branch that was  _ just _ out of reach. Oikawa slowly moved forward, careful to announce his presence by spreading out his wings to allow his scent to spread. The small animal scampered away when he approached, hiding not too far off. Poor thing really wanted these berries. He picked of a sizeable handful, smiling when there was a small squeak of protest from the animal. Probably being territorial. Thinks I’m stealing it’s food, how cute! Oikawa holds out the handful to the animal and waits as it creeps up to his hand, cooing gently with a smile to seem more inviting. It eats as quickly as it can, but makes itself scarce when there’s a bit of movement behind him. He frowns when he catches Kyoutani’s rain and cookies scent, and stands up to see him standing next to Matsukawa, them both staring at him. Oikawa straightens his posture.

 

“What?” He asks defensively. 

 

“Nothing Mr.Snow White,” Matsukawa snarks. Oikawa glares at him, and he grins back lazily. The air between them seems a little lighter now, whatever the reason.

 

“How…”Kyoutani begins, then trails off, embarrassed.

 

“How did I get it to come? Simple,” Oikawa says, patting the shorter alpha and earning a growl,” Everything likes food.”

 

“I can attest for that,” Matsukawa chuckles stretching his wings slightly,” Anyway I brought along Kyoutani because Iwaizumi doesn’t like us going out without more than three to a group.” 

 

“Fuck Iwaizumi,” Oikawa sneered, wings fluffing a little. 

 

“I mean, I would, but I kind of have a thing for Hanamaki right now, so,” Matsukawa shrugged. Kyoutani grunts, and Oikawa huffs, and gestures for Matsukawa to show him the way to this tree. Matsukawa grins, then leads the way, the sound of their footsteps muffled against the activity of the night around them. Oikawa looks to the clear night sky, and finds that instead of the usual blue tint, it’s more of a purple. And yet...it’s still so beautiful. He can’t find any of the usual constellations, and that saddens him even though it to be expected, and he begins to entertain the idea of making up his own when they come to a stop. He brings his gaze back down to...wherever this is, and Matsukawa points at the tree in front of them. 

 

“These should be it! Just strip off the bark real careful, and you should be good,” he says, patting it lightly,” I’m just sorry we have to hurt the beauty!” 

 

“You guys mind helping me? I need quite a bit,” Oikawa says, unsheathing his claws to pick on the tough outer bark. 

 

“But we don’t have claws,” Kyoutani grumbles, wings drooping and visibly pouting over this fact.

 

“Yeah you do,” Oikawa laughs,” You just haven’t figured out how to get them to come out yet! Don’t worry about the hard part, I’ll do that. Just focus on getting strips of the tree, alright?” 

 

“Sounds good to me,” Matsukawa said shrugging. Oikawa worked the rough bark off the softer strips they wanted, and then they set off, stripping a considerable amount of wood. 

 

“So, you were working to be a botanist?” Oikawa asked suddenly, and Matsukawa looked up. 

 

“Yeah, my family owned a farm, and I always thought plants were pretty chill,” Matsukawa shrugs,” Added bonus of learning to grow my own weed.” 

 

“I fucking knew you were one of those guys, I fucking called it,” Oikawa shook his head, drawing a laugh out of even Kyoutani,” But all jokes aside, that’s horrible for your health.” 

 

“What are you my mother?” Matsukawa joked,” And I wasn’t even smoking it. I’m not that stupid. I was selling it, way more worth my time.”

 

“So a drug dealer then?” Oikawa raised an eyebrow, trying to pick off a particularly stubborn piece,” Anymore shady business dealings I need to know about before I let you dirty my precious Makki?” Kyoutani snorted. 

 

“I’ll have you know, I have a clean record, thank you very much!” Matsukawa huffed. 

 

“Clean record doesn’t mean nothing, only means you weren’t stupid enough to get caught,” Oikawa shoots him a look. 

 

“True,” Matsukawa smirks,” And what’s this I hear about  _ your _ precious Makki? Who died and made you king?” 

 

“No one, I already had the position,” Oikawa says haughtily, wings ruffling proudly. 

 

“I think Iwaizumi-san already called that one, Oikawa,” Kyoutani broke in. 

 

“He has you on that one,” Matsukawa chuckles,” Wait if Iwaizumi is King, would that make Oikawa Queen?” 

 

“Tch!” Oikawa clicks his tongue,” I accept the title of Queen, but on my own merits! I want nothing to do with that guy!” Matsukawa laughed at him, and they continued in silence, with the occasional grumble about ‘Stupid Iwa-chan’ from Oikawa.

 

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

 

When they get back to the camp, the late night hustle had died down, most of the carcass was cleaned up, and everyone was sitting around the campfire, chatting. 

 

“So this guy dressed as Usagi from- Oh hey they’re back!” Hanamaki shouted, flapping his wings around happily.  _ Idiot. Oh well. I hope everything goes okay... _

 

“Oikawa!” 

 

“Ack!”

 

Oikawa found himself on his back, with three bodies pinning him to the ground, wings pushed at an awkward angle. 

 

“Missed me?” Oikawa laughed a bit breathlessly, probably due to the fact that _ he couldn’t fucking breathe _ but that was okay, who needs breathing anyway when his babies are happy? 

 

“Uhm guys, you should probably give him space he looks like he’s not breathing,” Iwaizumi speaks up, and Oikawa takes a gulp of air, rights his wings, and gropes for his pile of soon to be rope up.

 

“Sorry,” Yahaba said frantically,” You just ran off without saying anything and-”

 

“I know, I know,” Oikawa sighs, “I just need to make sure you guys stay warm, so this was necessary, okay? I’m sorry about not saying anything, I won’t do it again.” 

 

“Promise?” Kunimi prompts, still hanging off his arm. 

 

“Promise,” Oikawa says, and they hook pinkies. 

 

“Well this is cute and all, but I am tired as fuck, can we go to bed?” Kyoutani asks, scratching at his collarbone. 

 

“Best idea yet,” Matsukawa yawns, popping his back muscles. 

 

“Should we let it just die out?” Yahaba asks, pointing to the fire,” We have it in a proper container.”

 

“No,” Oikawa and Iwaizumi say in unison, then frown at each other. Iwaizumi gestures to him.  _ Go ahead. _ Thanks, I guess.

 

“You might burn the forest down. The wind can pick up embers. Take some of those empty fruit shells and grab some water for it,” Oikawa says, picking himself up, and helping Kunimi up. He brushed Hanamaki’s dirt covered back off, then grabbed all the rope fibers. He walked just outside the shelter and sat down next to the hide, flattening his wings against his back so they wouldn’t get in the way. He knotted the ends together, and began to expertly braid the rope. Just like his older sister’s hair. Oikawa sighs. Never has he been more glad dad sent him to a survival boot camp every summer.The thought makes a wave of homesickness wash over him, and he tries to drown it in work. It was like trying to drown an ocean.  _ Maybe I should help. I haven’t done it in awhile. Am I still any good? Whatever, can’t hurt to try, and he’s got plenty. _ I would actually appreciate some help. A pause.  _ Alright then. _ There’s a shuffle, and Iwaizumi sits in front of him, and picks up some of the fibers, tieing them together with a knot he could never quite get right, and it makes him slightly bitter.  _ When are you not bitter? _ Shut up.  _ The trick is to loop once, not twice. Easier to maneuver that way. My papa taught me that one.  _ Thanks I guess.  _ No problem. _ They sit in silence, and make about five lengths of six foot rope. He sheathes his claws and makes holes in the hide, looping the rope through, where he would secure it to the ribcage. He leaves the skin out to sun, making sure all the flesh is off of it.  _ Don’t you usually soak that in something? _ Yeah, salt and water, but I want the hide to be rough so it’ll keep out the elements better. That and I have no idea where I might find salt, and even if I did, I wouldn’t know how it would react to the hide anyway. Best to leave it as it is. Iwaizumi nods at him, and goes inside to pick the ribcage out of the den before Oikawa could get to it. He sets it next to the skin, and Oikawa reminds himself to thoroughly wash it the next day in the river. Everyone begins to pile in, and Oikawa curls on the moss floor towards the back, arranging himself so his wings aren’t making the position uncomfortable. Kunimi fits himself between him and the wall, Hanamaki simply drapes himself on Oikawa’s chest, and Yahaba curls on the other side of him, and it’s really very comfortable and warm. Not as warm as he’d like it, but good enough for now. He listens to the others settle, and Iwa-chan’s last thoughts of the day, like sleepy reminders to himself and thoughts to try and see if the berries were poisonous. He falls asleep to the sound of everyone’s breathe and his last thought is how nice it felt not to be so lonely. 

 

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

 

When his eyes flutter open the next morning, he watches light filter through the looser branches of their shelter, and Hanamaki is no longer on his chest, but glued to Yahaba’s side, wings spread wide. How, he has no idea. Judging by the scents, the only one absent was Iwaizumi. For the first time, Oikawa tests the boundaries of their bond. You there?  _ Yeah. _ Food?  _...Wow. Is this how you’re like in the morning?  _ No, I just have a long day and I need to keep my energy up.  _ I collected some fruit. It’s next to the fire. Oh, and I turned over the hide already, don’t worry about that.  _ Kay, thanks Iwa-chan. He pulled away before Iwaizumi could complain about the nickname, and sat up. He untangled himself from Kunimi’s grasp, trying to ignore the small painful whine that he made when he did, and walked out, hand over his eye to block out the sunlight. Thank god the sunrise wasn’t on this side of the tree. He picks two of the fruit and casually bounces them off the ground. They crack open easily, and he slurps the juices from them before scooping out the fruit with his claws. Sometime during his second one, Kyoutani and Hanamaki walk out, blinking the sleep from their eyes. Oikawa points to the fruit, and they wordlessly sit and grab one. Oikawa has to show them how to open it after they spend a minute banging it around. After he finishes his breakfast, the most important meal of the day, he checks on all the tools and weapons he made from the bone. Once that’s done, he goes to the part of the tree that he jumped/flew last time. He sits, and begins his early morning meditation. He slowly relaxes each part of his body, and completely immerses himself in his surroundings. The way the wind is blowing, or how the animals are calling, or how it feels so teeming with _ life _ . He feels better, the stress of yesterday more or less forgotten, or well, put behind him at least. He has other things he needs to focus on. No need to be negative. Don’t be negative! As Koushi always said, negativity begone! Wait no, don’t think about Koushi. Sighing, Oikawa opens his eyes, then begins stretching. Finger to toes, all the way down. Stretch my wings as far as they’ll go, out, up and down. Stand up, bend over, touch my toes. Touch the sky. Then down again...one...two...three...breathe in…breathe out. To the side, then to the other side. Touch the sky. Roll my arms, get my shoulders warmed up. Over, over. Okay touch the sky one last time. Done. Warmed up, he flapped his wings experimentally. Last time he had to do a couple jumps to get there. Now after continually using his wings, he wants to try to make the whole thing in one go. He looks over at a large rock formation. Might be a good idea to have a boost though. Like a launch pad. He climbs the rock nearly slipping once, and steadies himself on the top using his wings. Okay. I’ve got good balance, I have good stamina, I can do this. And he jumps. He hears a gasp to his left, but he ignores it in favor of flapping upwards with a whoosh of wind. He can feel his instincts kicking in, helping him decide how to angle his wings, and how hard to thrust. Before he knows it, he at the base of the tree, and  _ that was easy. _ He lands and looks down to see Kyoutani and Hanamaki staring at him, shocked. He grins and waves. 

 

“Hey guys! Nice weather we’re having!” he calls down at them. 

 

“Oikawa Tooru!” Hanamaki shouts,” You better teach me how to do that!” Oikawa shrugs. 

 

“Gimme a few days to figure it out! I’m being really careful so no one gets hurt, and I’m taking it kinda slow, okay?” Oikawa shouts back down, cupping his wings to enhance the sound of his voice. Kyoutani gives him a thumbs up. He nods again, and backs up. He holds his hand up and feels the wind. Breezy. He doesn’t know whether that’s good or bad. He figures it might be easier to coast with more wind, but harder to balance. He’ll have to see. He takes a running head start and leaps off the ledge, unfurling his wings, he snaps them out slightly too fast and it makes him wince, and he notes to be careful of that in the future. He flaps his wings, wide, even strokes, don’t panic Tooru. He begins to ascend, and he catches a breeze. He coasts, wings angled just so. He takes a chance to look down a sees the landscape whooshing past, and he grins so hard his face hurts. He wants to turn around, and it takes him a second to figure out how to tip one of his wings slightly more than the other to make a one-eighty-degree turn, and he heads back home. He begins to slow, flapping less so he descends and manages to land on his feet, but not without stumbling. He looks around to see not only an in-awe Hanamaki and Kyoutani, but a flabbergasted Iwaizumi. 

 

“What? Did you think these were just for show?” Oikawa asks raising a eyebrow. He flap his wings to prove a point, but he’s really tired so he just sits there for a second. 

 

“How did you-I-what-how?” Iwaizumi struggles, and Oikawa giggles, covering his mouth with his hand. 

 

“Can I learn now Oikawa?” Hanamaki whines, draping himself across Oikawa’s thighs. 

 

“No, I want to like learn everything so I can teach you guys, just to be safe, okay?” Oikawa says, patting him on the head. Hanamaki frowns. 

 

“But-” he begins.

 

“ _ Okay _ ?” Oikawa says, given his sweet-but-scary smile. Hanamaki stiffens. His wings droop, and his head lowers. 

 

“Sorry,” he mutters, pulling himself to a sitting position. Oikawa waves it off. Then he starts stretching. His wings up and down, slowly, up towards the sky. Then he stands up does his stretches, then turns to the alphas. 

 

“Guys, I’m serious. I want everyone to be safe, and if something goes wrong, I want someone with experience to be there to help. I can give everyone some basic stretches to do in the morning to help ready your muscles for flight, but until I feel okay with teaching everyone, I want to wait, and I need you to respect that,” Oikawa says seriously, borderline pleading. Except he doesn’t beg. Ever. His pride wouldn’t allow it. 

 

“That’s-” Kyoutani begins, but he’s stopped by Iwaizumi. 

 

“I think that’s fair. But to be on the safe side from now on, I want someone watching you while you practice. That way everyone is safer,” Iwaizumi says, crossing his arms, and extending his wings,” I get your concern, I really do. But I want to lay something down. Don’t over-exert yourself. No one can help you, your up there alone if you get hurt. Don’t wander too far, just in case.” 

 

“But, I-” Oikawa starts, but Iwaizumi looks him in the eye daring him to speak, and his throat closes up, and he can  _ smell _ him, and it’s telling him not to talk back, to submit, and he wants to fight it, but he can’t because as much as he hates it, Iwaizumi is the pack leader, and an alpha,  _ the _ alpha. He lowers his head in submission, and the scent goes away. 

 

“I didn’t want to do that, nor did I mean to...I’m sorry,” Iwaizumi says, but Oikawa can’t force himself to look him in the eye, and the other sighs, running his finger through his hair. 

 

“Rest until you attempt another flight, okay?” Iwaizumi tries again, and Oikawa nods mutely. Iwaizumi walks away, and Kyoutani follows him. 

 

“Holy Fuck that was terrifying,” Hanamaki mutters, holding onto the fabric of his dress for comfort. 

 

“Tell me about it, that was absolutely nothing compared to the other alphas,” Oikawa shudders, clutching him back. 

 

“I am  _ not _ looking forward to when his ‘wild side’ comes out, if it’s anything close to that,” Hanamaki said,” But seriously, are you okay? It looked like it affected you more than it did me!” 

 

“That’s precisely because I’m in touch with my wild side that all of my instincts, everything, absolutely everything, just submitted to him, and I know I can do nothing about it. And I wanted to try flying again, and now I won’t be comfortable with going until at least sunhigh because of that,” Oikawa rambles, clutching fistfulls of his hair.

 

“Oikawa?” Hanamaki asked suddenly. Oikawa looked up at the other omega.

 

“Yes?” he said, letting his hair go and smoothing it down, trying to pretend like he wasn’t still screaming inside. 

 

“Why aren’t you intimidated by any of the other alphas?” Hanamaki asks. 

 

“Probably has something to do with the fact that I’m bonded to the head alpha, so I’ll probably only be able to submit to him,” Oikawa shrugs, smoothing his quivering feathers. 

 

“Makes sense,” Hanamaki nods,” Come on, let’s go see if the others are up and tell them about your accomplishment,  _ My Queen _ .” Oikawa groans. 

 

“Mattsun told you about that?” Oikawa mutters, rolling up his metaphorical sleeves” Imma-”

 

“No it was Kyoutani, actually,” Hanamaki laughs, pushing his arms down. Oikawa narrows his eyes. 

 

“Oh really?” Oikawa narrows his eyes. Hanamaki nods, trying to hold in laughter. 

 

“Fine then! Two can play at that game,  _ Kyouken-chan _ !” Oikawa says maliciously. Hanamaki bursts out laughing. 

 

“Oh this is gonna be so good!” Hanamaki laughs, wiping a tear from his eye. They walk over, or more like Oikawa stomps over and Hanamaki stumbles like a drunken man from laughing. 

 

“Oi!” Oikawa says, and points directly at Kyoutani, Kyoutani shrinks at the direct attention. By this time everyone is more or less awake and he has their attention. Oikawa puts his hands on his hips.  _ I don’t get paid enough for this shit. _ You don’t get paid at all Iwa-chan.  _ I know, and it’s a damn shame. _ What’re you gonna do with money here, anyway?  _ Shut up. _ Oikawa shuts up, and returns to the situation at hand.

 

“I have decided on your nickname! Kyouken-chan!” Oikawa says triumphantly. 

 

“Fuck no,” Kyoutani spat. Oikawa crossed his arms smugly. 

 

“Can’t tell me what to do!” Oikawa sticks out his tongue. 

 

“Iwaizumi-san!” Kyoutani says pleadingly. Iwaizumi looks at him for a long moment.  _ You’re lucky I feel bad about scaring you.  _

 

“I have a shitty nickname, he has a shitty nickname, and now you have one. I don’t see the big deal,” Iwaizumi shrugs, and goes back to trying to make the fire start. What nickname. Iwaizumi smirks. 

 

“Isn’t that right Crappykawa?” Iwaizumi says, and when Oikawa screeches his dismay, the fire finally catches a spark. 

 

“Do you have a problem?” Iwaizumi glares at him. Oikawa stiffens. 

 

“No…” he says, voice weak. Iwaizumi nods.  _ It’s only fair Oikawa.  _ Oikawa looks away. Iwaizumi sighs and runs his finger through his hair again. Oikawa walks over to Yahaba and Kunimi and wraps an arm around them. They hug him back, surprised, but pleased with the sudden affection, and Oikawa feels Hanamaki hug him from behind.  _ Now I feel like a outright bully.  _ It feels worse than bullying Iwa-chan, trust me, I would know, I’ve been bullied my whole life, and this is ten times worse than any of that. It’s  **scary** .  _ I’m sorry. _ Whatever. He pulls away from the comfort, and offers them a smile. 

 

“I’m going hunting! Who wants to go with me?” Oikawa asked. 

 

“All the game is too fast,” Iwaizumi says, frowning. 

 

“I picked up some tricks,” Oikawa shrugs,” Anyway I’m making you guys go anyway! And this is an omega only trip!” Oikawa glares at a curious looking Kindaichi. He just wants some time away from alphas…

 

“Alright, alright, let’s go,” Yahaba sighs, pulling up an extremely reluctant Kunimi. Hanamaki follows suit, hands in the pockets of his dress. 

 

 

♡                             ~                             ♡


End file.
